Lemon Curd Muffin Top

Hi Friends,

I just wanted to tell you that you should make these lemon muffins.

Here is the recipe.  It's in British (weight not cups) so apologies for that but I used a scale.  Also I always do the swap of flour for ground almonds that he suggests and add lots of almond extract.  It's pretty delish.  Nick inhaled them - I even made them with gluten free flour and they worked perfect.

In other news, it's February first!  WTFFFFF!  I haven't even shared my New Years Resolution with you!  OK so here it is.... Get a PERKIER ASS!

So as you can see I am suffering from a bad case of secretary spread... thanks to my sedentary job.  I'm also  working on eliminating my chub rub.  (That is when your inner thighs touch... see above)

So tonight while Nick is in London for work, Heidi and me are having a girls night in.  We went for a run together.... during which Heidi puked, and I had to have a not so serious conversation with her on the dangers of Ana and Mia.  (...but seriously - who is YOUR thinspo?) Then we came home and we did some yoga with Tara Stiles - (youtube her)...  while Heid thought it was appropriate to skip the downward dog poses and drop her bone on me repeatedly... now she is taking a nap and I am seriously considering whether to paint my nails barbie dream house pink.  (It's probs not office appropriate.)

Speaking of which, I am SO looking forward to vet school, but so NOT looking forward to my future inability to wear childish sparkly nail polish.  (I hear it is hard to keep your nails long and nice when you have to stick your hands in places where the sun doesn't shine. )

In summary, please entertain me with the answers to the following while I am home alone and watching bad reality TV...

1. What is your new year's resolution?  Are you still following it?
2. Who is your thinspiration?
3. What is your favorite color of nail polish?
4. What do YOU want to be when you grow up?

We Love Guests

On Sunday I cleaned our little house up and down in anticipation of 

a very special guest's arrival...

And I made these delicious Lemon Curd Muffins because I am the perfect hostess.

(They were pretty much excellence in muffin form -

slightly sweet, oozing lemony goodness, and just tart enough)

Anyways, as I was taking these little beauties out of the oven we received...

 a knock upon the door.  

And this razzle dazzle sparkly Australian girl showed up and graced me with her effervescent presence.

She brought her boy friend too.

And we went to a little British pub for dinner.

They were only meant to stay the night, and leave in the morning 

for a quick stop over in York before heading up to Edinburgh, Scotland.

But I hadn't seen her face in 3 years and one night was not enough for me.

So I invited myself to York with them for the day.

I hope they didn't mind.

I cherished every minute of my 3rd wheeling!!

In case you're counting, these were our fabulous 3rd and 4th Aussie guests since October.

And no, we're not running an Australian only hotel.

Yes, I would like some red, white, and blue (of the USA variety) in our house.  

But OH how much do I L.O.V.E. all of our guests?!?

Thanks for visiting Temae and Jack!  

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Because I am such a suzy homemaker, I made my dear dear husband muffins on Wednesday, so that he could enjoy them for breakfast on his final day of work on Thursday.  Little did I know while slaving away over these delicious muffins, that the light of my life would be so hungover from his leaving party on Wednesday that he would be completely unable to consume anything without projectile vomiting for the entire day on Thursday.  I'm not joking, he showed up on the door step Wednesday night looking like a soiled tween after his first party with alcohol.  He also kept repeating "wig for Doodle" because apparently he had acquired an Elvis wig for our poor dog.  I guess thats a post for another day.

But nevermind that, at least I had muffins.  Very good muffins indeed, thanks to Madhuram's Eggless Cooking.  Yes, eggless *gasp*! Have I taken my vegetarianism to the next level and gone vegan on you?  No, but we were out of eggs.  And these were surprisingly good.  They were very zesty and not too sweet.

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar ( I used a mixture of light and dark, but mostly light)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Wet Ingredients

• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 teaspoons ground flax seed (a hippy ingredient I'll admit, but I had it on hand because we put it in smoothies, its a good supplement for vegetarians.) 
• 1/2 cup water
• Zest from one orange
• 1 cup freshly chopped cranberries

Start by preheating the oven to 375 F or 190 C.  Mix together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.  In a food processor, add 1/2 cup of water and 2 teaspoons ground flax seed and blend until it gets frothy.  Squeeze 2/3 cup of orange juice, (from about 2 oranges) and add water to the juice till you reach one cup of liquid.  Add the flax seed mixture and the orange zest to this and stir well.  Pour all the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until it just comes together.  Gently fold in your cranberries.  Spoon into muffin liners and pop in the oven for about 20 minutes (mine took more like 23 minutes to be exact).  

Let cool (just a bit though, they are SO good warm), unwrap and enjoy!  

ps.  We just finished these off yesterday, and that means they kept well for at least 5 days.  

pss.  In case you were wondering, my husband also thought they were amazing after he recovered.